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Daily Archives: December 22, 2019

yenisafak(2019-12-22). Muslim scholars urge India to reverse citizenship law.yenisafak.comThe International Union for Muslims Scholars (IUMS) on Sunday called on the Indian government to retreat from a controversial citizenship law, warning that the law would fuel hatred against Muslims.In a statement, the IUMS said it was closely following the situation of Muslims in India with great concern following the passage of the citizenship law.It said the legislation would expose Muslims to various forms of restrictions and oppression, going on to call on the UN and the Islamic world to stand up against the law.The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed last week, grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Ch…

Staff(2019-12-21). Ambitious Texas Law Fails to Make Dent in Jailhouse Suicides.truthdig.com NOTE: Part of the series Death Behind Bars, a joint reporting effort by The Associated Press and the University of Maryland's Capital News Service. | In a county jail in central Texas, an inmate on suicide watch begins strangling himself with a phone cord. The guard watching him does not rush in because of security rules that prohibit him from going into a cell alone, leading to an agonizing 10-minute wait before another staffer arrives to provide backup. | Derrek Monroe, who died the next day in a hospital, was among the first of 48 jail suicides since the 2017 launch of a sweeping Texas law aimed at reducing su…

Binoy Kampmark(2019-12-21). Medical Opinion, Torture, and Julian Assange.dissidentvoice.org On November 27 this year, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, delivered an address to the German Bundestag outlining his approach to understanding the mental health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. These comprised two parts, the initial stage covering his diplomatic asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy, the second dealing with his formal detention in …

Fight Back(2019-12-21). Steelworkers sue Alcoa to keep retiree life insurance benefits.fightbacknews.orgWashington, DC – The United Steelworkers (USW) filed a lawsuit, December 19, in the Southern District of Indiana to protest Alcoa USA Corporation's terminating life insurance benefits for approximately 8900 union-represented retirees. | Alcoa informed the retirees by letter on December 4 that it would eliminate life insurance coverage effective December 31, 2019. The company included with the letter a check equal to a fraction of the face value of their life insurance coverage and a federal 1099 tax form, since the payment would be taxable. | The lawsuit was filed as a class action, and three Alcoa retirees have…

Staff(2019-12-21). Trump Adviser Says Republicans Will Ramp Up Voter Suppression in 2020.truthout.orgReporting on Friday shows a top adviser for President Donald Trump's re-election campaign caught on tape in November bragging of the Republican Party's history of voter suppression — and promising to go on the offensive in 2020. | The revelation came from the Associated Press in a report Friday on comments by Trump re-election adviser Justin Clark at an event in Madison, Wisconsin. | "Traditionally it's always been Republicans s…

Al Neal(2019-12-20). Samsung boss sent to prison for union busting.peoplesworld.org There are roughly 7,111 languages spoken around the world. As we close out 2019 and enter 2020, that number will increase (or decrease) as we continue to understand, grasp, and document what constitutes a spoken or written language. In any case, and in any language, we can all agree: Union busting is disgusting. And, unlike …

Linda Ford(2019-12-20). Women Politicals: Still Defiant.dissidentvoice.orgAs Australian activist John Pilger recounts his visit to the world's most abused US/UK political prisoner, Julian Assange, he gives us the brutal details of how the friends and families of political prisoners also face punishment, gauntlets, humiliation. And he tells of the terrible conditions and terrible treatment meted out to Assange, and the weakened, …

Kanya Bennett(2019-12-20). A Fair Chance at Opportunity: The U.S. Government Bans the Box.aclu.orgWhen Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) reintroduced the Fair Chance Act earlier this year, he | said: "This bill would give individuals who are reentering society from prison | a fair chance at truly achieving the American dream." The Fair Chance Act would | ban the box that employers use to ask about arrest and conviction history on | job applications. It also requires that federal agencies and contr…

IMEMC News & Agencies(2019-12-20). Charlotte Kates: The Palestinian Economy Under Israeli Occupation.imemc.orgPress TV interviewed Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, about Israel's occupation of Palestine and control of the Palestinian economy. "Israel consistently uses Palestinians as a captive, colonial market, to buy its goods, to work in its factories, and denies Palestinians the right to economic independence …

Sarah Gertler(2019-12-20). Trump's Judaism Order Has Nothing to Do With Fighting Anti-Semitism.counterpunch.orgThe Trump administration says it's anti-Semitic to criticize Israel. That's the gist of a recent executive order that would treat campus calls to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians as anti-Semitic discrimination on the basis of "national origin." Days after the order, the synagogue I most often attend here in Washington, D.C. became another More

RT(2019-12-20). Ex-FBI employee gets 7 DAYS in jail for hacking emails of right-wing activist 'to protect Mueller'.rt.com The DC Swamp is so small that people on both sides of the aisle are bound to rub elbows, such as the ex-FBI official who tried stopping his neighbor from harming special counsel Robert Mueller's reputation by hacking his email. | Mark Tolson, 60, was sentenced to seven days in jail and 50 hours of community service on Friday, even though the judge called his crime 'very serious.' The former FBI analyst hacked into the email account of his neighbor, right-wing activist Jack Burkman, and tried to publish that information in the media. | Tolson pleaded guilty in September to illegally hacking Burkman's email acco…

ACLU(2019-12-20). Four Lawyers. Four Projects. One Non-Stop Year.aclu.org It isn't news that the Trump administration has kept ACLU attorneys working at breakneck speed for the past three years. In 2019 alone, we saw historic moments and victories—from defeating the citizenship question on the 2020 census and bringing the first trans civil rights case to the Supreme Court, to blocking a wave of abortion bans and many of the administration's attempts to dismantle the asylum system. To name a few. | Here are some of our attorneys' takes on 2019 and the year ahead—what's changed for the better and for the worse, and how the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will a…

Staff(2019-12-19). FBI Surveillance of Trump Aide Reflects Flaws in Secretive FISA System That Mostly Targets Muslims.democracynow.org Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Wednesday the FBI should have considered halting its surveillance of Trump's campaign aide Carter Page months before it did, after it was revealed that accusations against him may not be credible. Horowitz made the comments while testifying to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, saying the FBI used false information to obtain approval to wiretap Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and raising wider concerns about the agency's use of surveillance. He testified a day after the highly secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Co…

RT(2019-12-19). Iowa man gets 16 years for stealing church's pride flag & burning it outside STRIP CLUB.rt.com Stealing a Pride banner from a church and burning it outside a local strip club has landed an Ames, Iowa resident in prison for sixteen years, on hate crime charges. | Adolfo Martinez, 30, has been found guilty of a hate crime, third-degree harassment and reckless use of fire for stealing. He was arrested after police said he stole a pride banner hanging at the Ames United Church of Christ on June 11. | Martinez later burned the purloined flag, doused with lighter fluid, outside the Dangerous Curves Gentleman's Club, which had actually been kicked him out earlier that day. He had also threatened to burn down t…

RT(2019-12-19). Elite NY school rocked by claims of anti-Semitism, swastikas on campus & Holocaust survivors labeled oppressors.rt.com An elite private school in the Bronx that costs $53,000 a year is being accused of failing to properly address complaints of discrimination and anti-Semitism made by Jewish students who reportedly say they've felt unsafe there. | Swastikas have reportedly been posted on the grounds of Fieldston School and a recent speaker argued that Holocaust survivors have turned into oppressors. | "If someone was coming to Fieldston to talk about apartheid and went off on a rant about the pea-sized brains of women who belong in a kitchen, or repeated racist tropes, or ranted about any form of homophobia or racism or sexism,…

ACLU(2019-12-19). 10 LGBTQ Moments that Defined 2019.aclu.org 1. Aimee Stephens goes to the Supreme Court: | In October, the Supreme Court heard its first trans civil rights case ever. The case was brought by our client Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a funeral home solely for being transgender. That's sex discrimination and it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. , | We have yet to see whether the Supreme Court will uphold the civil rights of trans people. But no matter what, history has already been made. , | "I'll never forget the feeling of coming out of the Supreme Court and seeing a crowd of trans people and allies chanting to…

Melissa Grant(2019-12-18). A Tennessee City Banned Surgical Abortion Within the City Limits. We're Taking Them to Court.aclu.orgFor 30 years, I have | worked in reproductive health care. In my current role as Chief Operating | Officer of carafem, a nonprofit with a national network of health centers, I | know the difference compassionate and comprehensive reproductive health care | makes in the lives of our clients. I have witnessed the personal impact when | people who have the legal right to have a child or to have an abortion are denied | those rights due to outrageous societal barriers. Abortion providers are used | to opposition, but we've never experienced the kind of explicit targeting we | received from politicians in the city…

Staff(2019-12-18). Headlines for December 18, 2019.democracynow.orgHouse to Hold Historic Impeachment Vote Today, Top U.S. Diplomat to Ukraine William Taylor to Step Down, Rick Gates Sentenced to 45 Days in Jail and $20,000 Fine, FISA Court Orders FBI to Change National Security Wiretaps After DOJ Report, Democratic Primary Debate to Go Forward After Labor Dispute Resolved, Senate Approves One of the Most Expensive Military Spending Bills in U.S. History, Trump Meets with Outgoing Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, Indian Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Controversial Citizenship Law, Strikes Continue Nationwide in France over Pension Overhaul, Bolivia's Evo Morales Names Two…

Staff(2019-12-17). Democratic Candidates Focus on Public Education at Historic Forum with Civil Rights & Labor Groups.democracynow.org Ahead of the last Democratic presidential debate of the year this Thursday, seven candidates appeared Saturday at the historic Democratic Presidential Forum on Public Education in Pittsburgh, an event organized by public education organizations, unions, civil rights organizations and community groups. We play highlights from the forum and get response from Keron Blair, director of the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools in Atlanta; Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance; and Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education Action. She recently authored a report titled "S…

Twyla Carter(2019-12-17). It's Clear: In Oklahoma Cash Bail is Being Used as Ransom to Keep People Who Are Poor Behind Bars.aclu.orgImagine you are one of the 4,000 people arrested every year in Canadian County, Oklahoma, a county with less than 200,000 people. Maybe the police find marijuana in your car during a traffic stop, maybe the police have mistaken you for someone else, or perhaps you can't afford the $40 per month you owe the court from a different charge. | After you're arrested, things will go one of two ways. You may | spend an hour or two in the jail for booking and then go home until your court | date. Or, you might sit in jail for weeks or months until your court date, | eating substandard food and sleeping on a linoleum fl…

Fight Back(2019-12-17). Wisconsin: Medicaid to cover gender-confirming medical procedures.fightbacknews.orgKenosha, WI – As of December 10, Wisconsin is now one of the 20 states that cover medically necessary gender-confirming surgeries. People in need of these procedures will receive coverage under the state's Medicaid healthcare plan. This development comes after state officials allowed the time frame to lapse for an appeal of the 2018 lawsuit that initiated the whole process. | This is undoubtedly a big win for transgender and non-binary people across the state and a huge rebuke to traditional thinking when it comes to transgender and non-binary individuals seeking surgery to help with gender dysphoria. Gender Dysp…

Gerry Mohan(2019-11-24). Just Trying to Get It.zcomm.orgFront page of the Guardian Review I'm trying to get it: a US president who waged war against 7 Muslim countries; droned, murdered and terrorized thousands of civilians in some of the poorest countries on earth; just by the way got rid of habeas corpus; spent a trillion dollars on "modernizing" the US military and Read more…

Muslim scholars urge India to reverse citizenship lawyenisafak.com | 2019-12-22
The International Union for Muslims Scholars (IUMS) on Sunday called on the Indian government to retreat from a controversial citizenship law, warning that the law would fuel hatred against Muslims.In a statement, the IUMS said it was closely following the situation of Muslims in India with great concern following the passage of the citizenship law.It said the legislation would expose Muslims to various forms of restrictions and oppression, going on to call on the UN and the Islamic world to stand up against the law.The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed last week, grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Ch…yenisafak.com/en/world/muslim-scholars-urge-india-to-reverse-citizenship-law-3508012

Medical Opinion, Torture, and Julian Assange
Binoy Kampmark | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-21
On November 27 this year, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, delivered an address to the German Bundestag outlining his approach to understanding the mental health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. These comprised two parts, the initial stage covering his diplomatic asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy, the second dealing with his formal detention in …dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/medical-opinion-torture-and-julian-assange/

Burkina Faso: Thomas Sankara Lives in the Memory of Africanstelesurenglish.net | 2019-12-21
On December 21st, African peoples remember the birth of Thomas Sankara, a Marxist revolutionary who became the icon of a collective struggle against the oppression from imperialist nations. | RELATED: | Burkina Faso Re-Establishes Diplomatic Relations With China | Thomas Sankara was born in 1949 in the French colony known at that time by the name of Upper Volta, which he would later rename Burkina Faso, which means "the land of upright people." | While his parents came from a mid…telesurenglish.net/news/Burkina-Faso-Thomas-Sankara-Lives-in-the-Memory-of-Africans-20191221-0004.html

Ambitious Texas Law Fails to Make Dent in Jailhouse Suicides
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-12-21
NOTE: Part of the series Death Behind Bars, a joint reporting effort by The Associated Press and the University of Maryland's Capital News Service. | In a county jail in central Texas, an inmate on suicide watch begins strangling himself with a phone cord. The guard watching him does not rush in because of security rules that prohibit him from going into a cell alone, leading to an agonizing 10-minute wait before another staffer arrives to provide backup. | Derrek Monroe, who died the next day in a hospital, was among the first of 48 jail suicides since the 2017 launch of a sweeping Texas law aimed at reducing su…truthdig.com/articles/ambitious-texas-law-fails-to-make-dent-in-jailhouse-suicides/

Steelworkers sue Alcoa to keep retiree life insurance benefits
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-12-21
Washington, DC – The United Steelworkers (USW) filed a lawsuit, December 19, in the Southern District of Indiana to protest Alcoa USA Corporation's terminating life insurance benefits for approximately 8900 union-represented retirees. | Alcoa informed the retirees by letter on December 4 that it would eliminate life insurance coverage effective December 31, 2019. The company included with the letter a check equal to a fraction of the face value of their life insurance coverage and a federal 1099 tax form, since the payment would be taxable. | The lawsuit was filed as a class action, and three Alcoa retirees have…www.fightbacknews.org/2019/12/21/steelworkers-sue-alcoa-keep-retiree-life-insurance-benefits

Trump Adviser Says Republicans Will Ramp Up Voter Suppression in 2020
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-21
Reporting on Friday shows a top adviser for President Donald Trump's re-election campaign caught on tape in November bragging of the Republican Party's history of voter suppression — and promising to go on the offensive in 2020. | The revelation came from the Associated Press in a report Friday on comments by Trump re-election adviser Justin Clark at an event in Madison, Wisconsin. | "Traditionally it's always been Republicans s…truthout.org/articles/trump-adviser-says-republicans-will-ramp-up-voter-suppression-in-2020/

Women Politicals: Still Defiant
Linda Ford | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-20
As Australian activist John Pilger recounts his visit to the world's most abused US/UK political prisoner, Julian Assange, he gives us the brutal details of how the friends and families of political prisoners also face punishment, gauntlets, humiliation. And he tells of the terrible conditions and terrible treatment meted out to Assange, and the weakened, …dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/women-politicals-still-defiant/

Judge says Assange extradition hearing will take "three to four weeks" as political opposition mountswsws.org | 2019-12-20
Assange appeared physically unwell, but followed the proceedings carefully via videolink from Belmarsh maximum security prison.www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/20/assa-d20.html

Four Lawyers. Four Projects. One Non-Stop Yearaclu.org | 2019-12-20
It isn't news that the Trump administration has kept ACLU attorneys working at breakneck speed for the past three years. In 2019 alone, we saw historic moments and victories–from defeating the citizenship question on the 2020 census and bringing the first trans civil rights case to the Supreme Court, to blocking a wave of abortion bans and many of the administration's attempts to dismantle the asylum system. To name a few. | Here are some of our attorneys' takes on 2019 and the year ahead–what's changed for the better and for the worse, and how the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will a…aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/four-lawyers-four-projects-one-non-stop-year

A Fair Chance at Opportunity: The U.S. Government Bans the Box
Kanya Bennett | aclu.org | 2019-12-20
When Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) reintroduced the Fair Chance Act earlier this year, he | said: "This bill would give individuals who are reentering society from prison | a fair chance at truly achieving the American dream." The Fair Chance Act would | ban the box that employers use to ask about arrest and conviction history on | job applications. It also requires that federal agencies and contr…aclu.org/news/smart-justice/a-fair-chance-at-opportunity-the-u-s-government-bans-the-box

'Silent plight' carolers show solidarity with county jail inmates
Martha Grevatt | workers.org | 2019-12-20
Cleveland Question: Where are holiday carolers unwelcome this time of year? Answer: In the Cuyahoga County "Justice Center," when they represent the Coalition to Stop the Inhumanity at the Cuyahoga County Jail, and they have changed the words "Silent night, holy night" to "Silent plight, violated rights." Singing rewritten . . . | Continue reading 'Silent plight' carolers show solidarity with county jail inmates at Workers.org…workers.org/2019/12/45021/

Federal judge rules US government is entitled to seize proceeds from Edward Snowden's book sales and speaking feeswsws.org | 2019-12-20
A federal court ruled Tuesday in favor of the Justice Department's lawsuit seeking all proceeds from the whistleblower's recent memoir Permanent Record.www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/20/snow-d20.html

Charlotte Kates: The Palestinian Economy Under Israeli Occupation
IMEMC News & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-12-20
Press TV interviewed Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, about Israel's occupation of Palestine and control of the Palestinian economy. "Israel consistently uses Palestinians as a captive, colonial market, to buy its goods, to work in its factories, and denies Palestinians the right to economic independence …imemc.org/article/charlotte-kates-the-palestinian-economy-under-israeli-occupation/

Samsung boss sent to prison for union busting
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2019-12-20
There are roughly 7,111 languages spoken around the world. As we close out 2019 and enter 2020, that number will increase (or decrease) as we continue to understand, grasp, and document what constitutes a spoken or written language. In any case, and in any language, we can all agree: Union busting is disgusting. And, unlike …peoplesworld.org/article/samsung-boss-sent-to-prison-for-union-busting/

Trump's Judaism Order Has Nothing to Do With Fighting Anti-Semitism
Sarah Gertler | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-20
The Trump administration says it's anti-Semitic to criticize Israel. That's the gist of a recent executive order that would treat campus calls to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians as anti-Semitic discrimination on the basis of "national origin." Days after the order, the synagogue I most often attend here in Washington, D.C. became another…counterpunch.org/2019/12/20/trumps-judaism-order-has-nothing-to-do-with-fighting-anti-semitism/

US 'disappointed' with UK charging diplomat's wife involved in fatal crash who 'won't return voluntarily'rt.com | 2019-12-20
The wife of a US diplomat who killed a teenage motorcyclist in a fatal crash in August has said through a lawyer that she won't return to the UK to face a possible jail sentence after prosecutors announced charges against her. | …rt.com/usa/476519-sacoolas-diplomat-imunity-britain/

Ex-FBI employee gets 7 DAYS in jail for hacking emails of right-wing activist 'to protect Mueller'rt.com | 2019-12-20
The DC Swamp is so small that people on both sides of the aisle are bound to rub elbows, such as the ex-FBI official who tried stopping his neighbor from harming special counsel Robert Mueller's reputation by hacking his email. | Mark Tolson, 60, was sentenced to seven days in jail and 50 hours of community service on Friday, even though the judge called his crime 'very serious.' The former FBI analyst hacked into the email account of his neighbor, right-wing activist Jack Burkman, and tried to publish that information in the media. | Tolson pleaded guilty in September to illegally hacking Burkman's email acco…rt.com/usa/476535-fbi-mueller-hacking-jail/

US Hardliners Want Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning Crucified
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-19
Mass incarceration in the US is a national disgrace, a crime against humanity, including countless numbers of political prisoners — pesecuted behind bars for their beliefs and activism, for resisting the dirty system, judged guilty by accusation. | Julian Assange and …
globalresearch.ca/us-hardliners-want-julian-assange-chelsea-manning-crucified/5698261

Japanese 'MeToo' Activist Wins Lawsuit Against Rapisttelesurenglish.net | 2019-12-19
Japanese journalist Shiori Ito, the complainant in a sexual assault case that turned her into the most visible face of the "#MeToo" campaign in Japan, sought on Thursday an amendment in the country's law declaring all sexual relations without consent as rape. | RELATED: | Another Brutal Gang Rape and Murder Shakes India | "In our current rape law, which doesn't have the word consent, survivors have to prove the rape. The way to prove it is to prove how much you have been threatened, how much…telesurenglish.net/news/Japanese-MeToo-Activist-Wins-Lawsuit-Against-Rapist-20191219-0016.html

10 LGBTQ Moments that Defined 2019aclu.org | 2019-12-19
1. Aimee Stephens goes to the Supreme Court: | In October, the Supreme Court heard its first trans civil rights case ever. The case was brought by our client Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a funeral home solely for being transgender. That's sex discrimination and it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. , | We have yet to see whether the Supreme Court will uphold the civil rights of trans people. But no matter what, history has already been made. , | "I'll never forget the feeling of coming out of the Supreme Court and seeing a crowd of trans people and allies chanting to…aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/10-lgbtq-moments-that-defined-2019

Iowa man gets 16 years for stealing church's pride flag & burning it outside STRIP CLUBrt.com | 2019-12-19
Stealing a Pride banner from a church and burning it outside a local strip club has landed an Ames, Iowa resident in prison for sixteen years, on hate crime charges. | Adolfo Martinez, 30, has been found guilty of a hate crime, third-degree harassment and reckless use of fire for stealing. He was arrested after police said he stole a pride banner hanging at the Ames United Church of Christ on June 11. | Martinez later burned the purloined flag, doused with lighter fluid, outside the Dangerous Curves Gentleman's Club, which had actually been kicked him out earlier that day. He had also threatened to burn down t…rt.com/usa/476442-pride-flag-burned-jail-sentence/

Elite NY school rocked by claims of anti-Semitism, swastikas on campus & Holocaust survivors labeled oppressorsrt.com | 2019-12-19
An elite private school in the Bronx that costs $53,000 a year is being accused of failing to properly address complaints of discrimination and anti-Semitism made by Jewish students who reportedly say they've felt unsafe there. | Swastikas have reportedly been posted on the grounds of Fieldston School and a recent speaker argued that Holocaust survivors have turned into oppressors. | "If someone was coming to Fieldston to talk about apartheid and went off on a rant about the pea-sized brains of women who belong in a kitchen, or repeated racist tropes, or ranted about any form of homophobia or racism or sexism,…rt.com/usa/476432-anti-semitism-concerns-fieldston-ny/

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning Spends Her Birthday Imprisoned
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-18
Military whistleblower Chelsea Manning spent her 32nd birthday behind bars yesterday for continuing to refuse to testify against Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange. She has been in prison since May after a U.S. District Judge ordered her incarceration for not recognizing the legitimacy of the grand jury. She tweeted that she was grateful for t…mintpressnews.com/whistleblower-chelsea-manning-spends-her-birthday-imprisoned/263594/

A Secret CBP Team is Targeting and Detaining Innocent Travelers. We're Suing
Tarek Ismail | aclu.org | 2019-12-18
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is deploying secret teams that target, detain, and interrogate innocent travelers. We're suing to expose their activities. | In November 2018, three CBP officers detained Andreas | Gal, a former chief | technology officer at Mozilla Corporation and current Apple employee, at San | Francisco International Airport after he landed from a business trip to Sweden. | Andr…aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/a-secret-cbp-team-is-targeting-and-detaining-innocent-travelers-were-suing

A Tennessee City Banned Surgical Abortion Within the City Limits. We're Taking Them to Court
Melissa Grant | aclu.org | 2019-12-18
For 30 years, I have | worked in reproductive health care. In my current role as Chief Operating | Officer of carafem, a nonprofit with a national network of health centers, I | know the difference compassionate and comprehensive reproductive health care | makes in the lives of our clients. I have witnessed the personal impact when | people who have the legal right to have a child or to have an abortion are denied | those rights due to outrageous societal barriers. Abortion providers are used | to opposition, but we've never experienced the kind of explicit targeting we | received from politicians in the city…aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/a-tennessee-city-banned-surgical-abortion-within-the-city-limits-were-taking-them-to-court

Misery for Venezuelans continues ahead of 2020 elections: UN rights chief Bacheletnews.un.org | 2019-12-18
Demonstrations in Venezuela must be allowed to take place ahead of elections in 2020, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday, citing continued reports of harassment, threats, and detention by intelligence services and security forces.news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1053791

Democratic Candidates Focus on Public Education at Historic Forum with Civil Rights & Labor Groups
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-17
Ahead of the last Democratic presidential debate of the year this Thursday, seven candidates appeared Saturday at the historic Democratic Presidential Forum on Public Education in Pittsburgh, an event organized by public education organizations, unions, civil rights organizations and community groups. We play highlights from the forum and get response from Keron Blair, director of the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools in Atlanta; Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance; and Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education Action. She recently authored a report titled "S…www.democracynow.org/2019/12/17/democratic_presidential_forum_on_public_education

It's Clear: In Oklahoma Cash Bail is Being Used as Ransom to Keep People Who Are Poor Behind Bars
Twyla Carter | aclu.org | 2019-12-17
Imagine you are one of the 4,000 people arrested every year in Canadian County, Oklahoma, a county with less than 200,000 people. Maybe the police find marijuana in your car during a traffic stop, maybe the police have mistaken you for someone else, or perhaps you can't afford the $40 per month you owe the court from a different charge. | After you're arrested, things will go one of two ways. You may | spend an hour or two in the jail for booking and then go home until your court | date. Or, you might sit in jail for weeks or months until your court date, | eating substandard food and sleeping on a linoleum fl…aclu.org/news/smart-justice/its-clear-in-oklahoma-cash-bail-is-being-used-as-ransom-to-keep-people-who-are-poor-behind-bars

Wisconsin: Medicaid to cover gender-confirming medical procedures
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-12-17
Kenosha, WI – As of December 10, Wisconsin is now one of the 20 states that cover medically necessary gender-confirming surgeries. People in need of these procedures will receive coverage under the state's Medicaid healthcare plan. This development comes after state officials allowed the time frame to lapse for an appeal of the 2018 lawsuit that initiated the whole process. | This is undoubtedly a big win for transgender and non-binary people across the state and a huge rebuke to traditional thinking when it comes to transgender and non-binary individuals seeking surgery to help with gender dysphoria. Gender Dysp…www.fightbacknews.org/2019/12/17/wisconsin-medicaid-cover-gender-confirming-medical-procedures

Just Trying to Get It
Gerry Mohan | zcomm.org | 2019-11-24
Front page of the Guardian Review I'm trying to get it: a US president who waged war against 7 Muslim countries; droned, murdered and terrorized thousands of civilians in some of the poorest countries on earth; just by the way got rid of habeas corpus; spent a trillion dollars on "modernizing" the US military and Read…zcomm.org/zblogs/just-trying-to-get-it/